How sweet it is: Kaitlinn Verchio starts chocolate company

Kaitlinn Verchio is the very definition of local kid done good.

The 2012 Hill City High School graduate who was born and raised in Hill City went to culinary school after high school and has now started her own chocolate business: Dazed on Sugar, which was officially launched in November 2020.

“Thinsg are going great,” she said. “Way better than what I expected. People have been super generous and kind and super excited for me. That has been making my journey easier because starting a business is stressful and scary and hard.”

Dazed on Sugar specializes in artisanal, small batch truffles and other confections. Everything is done homemade and, following the model at her culinary school Auguste Escoffier School of Culinary Arts, she tries to make everything farm to table, meaning she tries to use and source as many good, high quality local ingredients as possible. She said she even uses organic materials when possible.

For Verchio, her foray into the chocolate making world comes thanks to her family, specifically her grandma.

“When I was little, (her grandparents) actually owned the Continental Cafe. ...That is where the Slate Creek Grill was and is now Mangiamo,” she said. “So when I was little that was their business, and then they sold it, I want to say, around 1998 or 1999. ... So they used to own that, and then my sister and I were actually over there quite a bit, so that’s where we got our love for baking. That’s where it started.”

After high school, Verchio said she didn’t quite know what she wanted to do. Her parents said she had to go to some sort of school, which is when she applied to — and got into — Auguste Escoffier.

She said when she went there, she chose the pastry track program because she wanted to make cupcakes and cakes, which, she said, were all the rage when she got out of high school.

While in culinary school, she was introduced to chocolates, which, she said, is the thing most culinary students hate the most. But she loved it.

“Once I got up there and started learning about chocolate and working with it and tasting it, I was, like, ‘Wow, this isn’t like anything what people said.’ I loved it,” she said. “So, from there, I realized that this is what I want to do. I want to work with chocolates.”

After culinary school, she went to Indiana for an internship at a business that her aunt owned at the time. She realized she missed home and wanted to work with chocolates so applied to a job at Mostly Chocolates in Rapid City and was hired. She moved back home, worked there for four years and then got the itch to start her own company.

She quit her job and worked for several years to start her business, which she officially launched last year.

Right now, she said her company is mobile, and she tries to do as many events as she possibly can.

Already, she’s done several events in Hill City, such as Girlfriends Weekend, Kris Kringle Craft Fair and Fantastic Fridays at Granite Sports, and she said she keeps getting invited to come back to sell her chocolates in Hill City.

Her goal right now, she said, is to get her name out there. The people helping her do that the most are her family.

“My family has been a huge help,” she said. “It seems like they are always telling people about me. I’m, like, ‘Stop bragging about me. You don’t have to tell everyone you meet that I have a business and it’s new.’ My family is always like that. They’re super loving and supportive. It’s a huge plus for me.”

Her dream is to have her own store on Main Street in Hill City.

She said she wants to be open for tourists and locals alike by being a year-round store. She wants to have a spot where people can come, have a cup of coffee and something sweet and that will be a spot for all generations.

She said she likes being in a small town where everyone knows everyone and truly cares about how they’re doing.

“Even from a business standpoint: people like that. ...I know people think: oh, they’re just asking that because it’s their job, but here in Hill City people don’t ask that because it’s their job,” she said. “They genuinely want to know how you are doing. That’s what I love about this town.”

To contact Verchio, message her on Facebook at Dazed on Sugar or email her at dazedonsugar@gmail.com